Percussion Instruments

Percussion instruments are instruments that, upon striking, shaking, scratching, or rubbing, make a sound. Commonplace percussion instruments, in use since the Middle Ages, include the triangle, the cymbals, the tambourine and diverse types of drum.

Percussion instruments can be divided into pitched and unpitched instruments, the latter of which has no distinctive pitch and, therefore, cannot be used to play a melody - the former can. Mallet percussion instruments are instruments played with a type of stick called a mallet, e.g. the xylophone, the marimba, the vibraphone, and the glockenspiel.

Percussion instrument staples are the kettledrum (or the timpani), the snare drum, the cymbals, and the triangle.